The LoHud Yankees Blog

The picture above is the one I had ready to go at the click of a button. Dave Robertson was the story. He wasn’t going to get the win, and he wasn’t going to get the save, but Robertson’s two strikeouts in the sixth inning were most surely going to be the biggest outs of the game. All that stood in the way was Mariano Rivera.

“Mo is as close to perfect in this situations as you can be,” Joe Girardi said. “But as we know, no one’s perfect.”

The Yankees have seen Rivera stumble, but it’s stunning each and every time it happens. A.J. Burnett had pitched well enough for his fourth straight win, Mark Teixeira had hit his go-ahead home run and Curtis Granderson had given the Yankees a little breathing room with his homer. Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano had completed their late-inning bridge.

“I have everything in mind that everything is going to be fine,” Rivera said. “It wasn’t good today.”

What went wrong was the same thing that goes wrong with every other pitcher from time to time. “He just missed a little bit with his spots,” Girardi said. The command wasn’t good. Rivera walked his first batter, threw his first wild pitch and allowed his first run all on the same pitch. He held the ball too long.

“Wanted to go away, and it was way too away,” he said.

The game-tying safety squeeze was something the Yankees had talked about, but Teixeira was holding the winning run at first and John McDonald could not have executed any better. Like Teixiera said after the game, when that play is executed in that situation, it’s almost impossible to defend. An inning later, Ivan Nova gave up the game winner. A stunning loss.

“Even with the walk I have to make good pitches, and I didn’t,” Rivera said. “I think the guys did tremendous today, and it was my fault.”

Here’s Rivera speaking after the game.

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• Heading into the game, the plan was for Nova to start on Sunday, but because of the off day on Thursday, Girardi also knew he had some wiggle room. Nova could still make that start, or he could be bumped to Sunday. Girardi went with Nova in the 10th because he wanted the most experienced right-hander left in the bullpen.

• As for sticking with Nova to face Travis Snider, Girardi knew that Juan Rivera would pinch hit if he brought in Boone Logan. Snider has been awful this season and the Yankees got him out five times tonight. They couldn’t get him out a sixth time.

• Teixeira said he never had a legitimate shot to make a play on the safety squeeze, and Girardi said there wasn’t any other strategy he could use at that point. “We talked about it,” Girardi said. “But you can pitch out on a safety and all you get is ball one.”

• Brett Gardner. Struggling. “It just seems like nothing’s going his way right now, but that’ll change,” Girardi said.

• Girardi said he could not have used Alex Rodriguez tonight, but he still expects to have him in the lineup on Wednesday.

• A.J. Burnett said all of the trips to the mound from Russell Martin had to do with constantly changing signs and making sure they were on the same page. This was another game with a lot of bouncing curveballs, and Martin did a good job of containing most of them. “Him and (Robertson) saved my day today,” Burnett said.

• The bad throw to Jeter: “I threw it like a dart, like I’d never made the play before,” Burnett said.

• Burnett pitched pretty well for the most part, but he was upset about that sixth inning. He seemed to lose some of his control that inning, and he said it was because he tried to be too perfect. “I’ve got to go deeper in that game,” Burnett said.

• The Yankees said during the game that Francisco Cervelli will DH in extended spring training tomorrow, and if that goes well, he’ll catch a game again on Thursday.

• As for Robertson, he was ultimately in and out of the clubhouse without much fuss after the game. Hard for anyone to write much about Robertson when the game ended like this, but that was some kind of performance. “Unbelievable,” Girardi said.

Associated Press photos

YANKEES (9-5)
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF

RHP A.J. Burnett (3-0, 4.67)
Burnett vs. Blue Jays

BLUE JAYS (7-9)
Yunel Escobar SS
Travis Snider LF
Jose Bautista RF
Adam Lind 1B
Aaron Hill 2B
Jose Molina C
Corey Patterson CF
Edwin Encarnacion DH
Jayson Nix 3B

RHP Kyle Drabek (1-0, 1.93)
Drabek vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., YES Network

WEATHER: Cold and rainy outside. Warm and domey inside.

UMPIRES: HP Ron Kulpa, 1B Jim Wolf, 2B Derryl Cousins, 3B Jim Joyce

MORE ON MARTIN: It helps that only four players have tried to run on him, but Russell Martin has allowed the fewest stolen bases of any major league catcher with at least 100 innings behind the plate (tied with Carlos Santana and Matt Wieters). Martin also leads all big league catchers with four home runs. He and Buster Posey are tied for the most RBI by a catcher with a 11.

HOMER HAPPY: The Yankees 27 home runs have set a franchise record for the most home runs through 14 games, and the Yankees have already tied the franchise record for the most home runs through 15 games according to Elias.

GOING LEFT FOR SWISH: Curtis Granderson has generated a lot of attention for his numbers against lefties this season, but Nick Swisher is also hitting well against lefties. He has a .526 average in 19 at-bats against left-handers this season. He came into the year with a .260 career batting average against lefties.

BLUE JAYS ACTIVATE FRANCISCO: Toronto has activated reliever Frank Francisco from the DL.

UPDATE, 7:25 p.m.: Someone said to me, “What are the chances this guy goes deep tonight?” One pitch later, Jose Bautista hit a solo home run for a 1-0 Blue Jays lead in the first inning.

UPDATE, 7:39 p.m.: Well that didn’t take much. A couple of walks, a single and a run-scoring double play and the Yankees are in the lead 2-1 in the middle of the second.

UPDATE, 8:32 p.m.: Wow, is Gardner ever struggling. Bad sac bunt right to the pitcher led to Martin being retired after leading off with a double. That bunt and the Burnett mistake are hurting right now. It’s 2-2 in the fifth.

UPDATE, 8:34 p.m.: Seriously. Struggling.

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: Mark Teixeira’s sixth homer of the year is a two-run shot in the sixth. It’s now 4-2 Yankees.

UPDATE, 9:10 p.m.: Not entirely sure how Hill hurt himself, but he’s out of the game and McDonald is in after a stolen base in the bottom of the sixth.

UPDATE, 9:24 p.m.: This might be the game. Robertson is in with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth. The Blue Jays have already pulled within 4-3, and although Burnett did a fine job minimizing the damage earlier in the game, at this point it became too risky to stick with him.

UPDATE, 9:32 p.m.: Well that was impressive. Fastballs to Escobar. Curveballs to Snider. Back-to-back strikeouts to strand the runners. If the Yankees hold on, someone needs to pie Robertson. That’s a reliever walkoff.

UPDATE, 9:39 p.m.: Hey look, Curtis Granderson can hit right-handers again. That’s his second home run vs. RHP in the past two games. It’s now 5-3.

UPDATE, 10:47 p.m.: Obviously a lot of writing and rewriting happening in the press box right now. Mariano Rivera has blown a save and now it looks like Ivan Nova is warming in the bullpen, though the TV here hasn’t shown it so that I could be certain.

Alex Rodriguez said he felt pretty good when he woke up this morning, and he went through hitting drills with Kevin Long without any significant problem. The Yankees training staff, though, recommended that Rodriguez take one more day off. If it were September, Rodriguez said, he would probably play. In the middle of April, the Yankees are trying to be smart.

“Geno thought it was best if we gave him one more day,” Joe Girardi said.

Rodriguez might be available to pinch hit. That will depend on how well he comes through his full set of pregame drills. Rodriguez said he’ll talk to Girardi right before the game and they’ll discuss his ultimate availability. He’s not going to start today, but he might become available off the bench.

The plan is for Rodriguez to play tomorrow.

Although Girardi often plays it safe on this Toronto turf, the manager said the playing surface had no impact on his decision. This is strictly about giving Rodriguez one more day to make absolutely sure he doesn’t suffer a setback.

• The Yankees are hopeful that Pedro Feliciano’s rehab will make him an available pitcher at some point this season, but there’s no guarantee that he won’t ultimately need surgery anyway. “This is the decision that he made and we’ll keep our fingers crossed,” Girardi said.

• Girardi said Colin Curtis is expected to miss the entire season after his shoulder surgery.

• Francisco Cervelli caught yesterday and he’ll DH today and tomorrow. Girardi wasn’t exactly sure of the dates, but he believes Cervelli could be added to the High-A Tampa roster by the weekend for a rehab assignment. He said the first of May is still a possibility for Cervelli’s return. “Everything is going according to plan,” Girardi said.

• Huge crowd of Canadian media met with Russell Martin pregame. Turns out, Martin forgot his phone in New York, so he actually has no idea how many people have asked him for tickets. His fingernail polish was honestly a lengthy topic of discussion. He was funny about it, said he thought about painting his fingernails white with tiny maple leafs.

• Bartolo Colon said his appearances have been so regular this season that he feels like he’s been pitching almost like a regular starter. He doesn’t seem to think tomorrow’s move into the actual rotation will be a significant change. “This is not my first start,” he said. “I’ve been pitching in the Major Leagues for a long time.”

• Girardi once again said that Brett Gardner’s struggles are a timing issue. He said Gardner’s been getting jammed on inside pitches and he’s been fouling outside pitches into the seats. “He just needs to do what he was doing last year,” Girardi said.

• More Canadian media news: Girardi was asked if he had a pick for the Stanley Cup. Girardi had absolutely no idea what to say. He doesn’t follow hockey, but he said he knew Vancouver was a No. 1 seed. That’s more than I knew.

Associated Press photo of Rodriguez, headshots of Feliciano and Cervelli

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Jorge Posada DH
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF

The Blue Jays don’t necessarily have one Brett Gardner-type base runner. Rajai Davis has a ton of speed, but he’s not an everyday guy, and Toronto’s stolen base leaders are Aaron Hill and Travis Snider, two guys known more for their bats than their legs.

As a team, though, the Blue Jays lead the Major Leagues with 21 stolen bases. They have nine players with at least one steal, and manager John Farrell has encouraged the team to be aggressive on the bases. Hill and Snider already have five stolen bases apiece, one away from a career high for each of them.

That means Russell Martin’s arm could be tested these two games. So far, he’s seen only four stolen base attempts, and he’s thrown out one of them. Last season, Martin threw out 39 percent of base stealers, third-highest caught stealing percentage in the National League.

A few other Blue Jays notes heading into this two-game series.

• Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion just returned to the Blue Jays lineup after missing three games because of a death in the family.

• David Purcey had a nice year out of the Blue Jays bullpen last year, but he’s no longer with the team after being designated for assignment and ultimately traded on Monday. Without Purcey, Toronto is carrying Marc Rzepczynski and Luis Perez as left-handed relievers.

• So far Jose Bautista is more or less living up to last season’s expectations. He has three home runs and a .306/.443/.510 slash line.

A.J. Burnett is back in Toronto to face his old team, and Bartolo Colon is back in a rotation to be a Major League starter again. Between them, Burnett and Colon have 266 career wins. The Blue Jays starters who will face them have a combined 54 career starts.

Tonight
RHP A.J. Burnett (3-0, 4.67)
vs.
RHP Kyle Drabek (1-0, 1.93)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Wednesday
RHP Bartolo Colon (0-1, 3.97)
vs.
LHP Brett Cecil (1-1, 6.19)
7:05 p.m., YES Network

Of all the young hitters in big league camp this spring, Jorge Vazquez was the greatest surprise. Jesus Montero was the greatest disappointment.

Nine games into the Triple-A season, Vazquez is still hitting, and Montero has finally started.

This afternoon, Vazquez was named the International League Player of the Week. All he did was hit .423 with five home runs and 11 RBI through six games. For the season he’s hitting .325/.333/.775 with a team-high 15 RBI (more than twice as many as any one of his teammates). Vazquez is always going to strike out a bunch, and he’s not going to walk much, but that’s a big bat to have in reserve behind Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Eric Chavez.

Montero has played in eight games this season, and he has three hits in half of them. He has one home run and three doubles, and my line earlier about him finally hitting was kind of a lie. Reports were positive about Montero from the moment he was assigned to minor league camp. He showed this spring that there might still be room to grow, but he’s shown this season that his bat is still one of the elite tools in minor league baseball.

Some other off day notes from the minor leagues:

• The early standout from the deep Triple-A outfield has been Jordan Parraz, the guy who was claimed this winter and designated for assignment just before spring training. Parraz has two homers, two triples and a .395 average. Ramiro Pena and Justin Maxwell are also off to strong starts in Triple-A. Off to surprisingly slow starts: Brandon Laird, Kevin Russo and Chris Dickerson.

• Kevin Millwood was mostly 86-87 mph in his Double-A start on Sunday. Freddy Garcia showed on Saturday that a veteran pitcher can have success at that velocity, but it’s still hard to see a place for Millwood in New York. He’s going to have to prove he’s not only worth a call-up, but worth taking someone off the 40-man roster. For what it’s worth, Millwood’s line on Sunday was impressive: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB and 3 K.

• Ten games into the Eastern League season, Trenton has two home runs as a team, one by Cody Johnson and one by Melky Mesa. Only Johnson and Ray Kruml are hitting better than .265.

• Stats from a name you might not know: Tampa starter Josh Romanski is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA through two stats. He’s allowed five hits and two walks through 11 innings. The only run he’s allowed came on a homer.

• Speaking of Tampa, the High-A corner infielders are off to strong starts. Third baseman Rob Lyerly is hitting .364 with two doubles, two triples, two homers and 14 RBI. First baseman Luke Murton is hitting .341 with two homers, a triple and four doubles.

• Ten games into the Low-A season, former first-round pick Slade Heathcott is hitting .364/.396/.705, though he has struck out 15 times. Another name to keep in mind on that Charleston roster is corner outfielder/first baseman Ramon Flores. He popped onto the radar with an impressive turn in the Gulf Coast League last year, and now he’s hitting .353/.522/.471 in Low-A. He’s played in 10 games and drawn 10 walks with seven strikeouts.

I’ve written this more times than I care to count: The moment Cliff Lee signed with Philadelphia, the Yankees offseason went down the tubes. There was one player on the market who perfectly fit the Yankees greatest offseason need, and when he went somewhere else, there was no perfect replacement. The biggest names still on the board didn’t really fit this roster, and Brian Cashman didn’t find a trade he liked.

Cashman signed Russell Martin, Pedro Feliciano and Andruw Jones to fill immediate needs, and ownership dumped closer money on Rafael Soriano. The rest of the Yankees offseason was spent on minor league deals with players well past their prime. It was a strategy that was mocked — to put it nicely — but it’s worked out so far.

“One thing to remember is that all of these players were stars,” Billy Eppler told Joel Sherman. “If you are going to do a reclamation project then do it with these types of players because if there is still something there and it comes out, you are getting all or a big part of a star.”

Eric Chavez, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia have been immediate contributors. It remains to be seen whether they can stay healthy and productive, but they’ve shown enough to suggest there’s still something left in the tank. For low-risk signings, they’ve been better than expected.

Luis Ayala was a surprise addition to the Opening Day roster, and he pitched well as a mopup man. Gustavo Molina went from a zero-chance veteran catcher to a emergency option after injury and disappointment. Mark Prior didn’t make the big league roster, but he’s been promoted to Triple-A and looks shockingly like he might be a legitimate big league option at some point.

Neal Cotts was released after his physical sent up some red flags, Ronnie Belliard was released after it became clear he didn’t have a place with the team, and it remains to be seen whether Kevin Millwood or Carlos Silva can provide anything. At this point, though, Cashman’s low-risk moves have been worthwhile, not worth mocking.

Associated Press photo

Pedro Feliciano has been examined by Dr. James Andrews, and the second opinion seems to be a little better than the first. Here’s the announcement from the Yankees.

LHP Pedro Feliciano was seen today by Dr. James Andrews in Pensacola, Fla. Dr. Andrews recommended a conservative treatment program for the next six weeks. Feliciano will begin a shoulder strengthening program immediately, and is expected to remain with the team during the rehabilitation process.

That seems to be an indication that Feliciano might be able to avoid surgery, or at least that he’s going to try to avoid surgery.

Fourteen games into the regular season, 22 Yankees have played fairly significant roles as everyday players, starting pitchers, crucial relievers or reserves with legitimate playing time.

Most of those 22 have gotten off to well-defined starts. They’re either playing well or they’re not.

Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Russell Martin, Eric Chavez, Andruw Jones, CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera, Bartolo Colon, Dave Robertson and Freddy Garcia are undeniably playing well at this point. Sabathia deserves a better record, Robertson had one wild inning and some of these guys have been only part-time players, but this group has done it part.

Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova have struggled. Nova showed some promise in his first start but hasn’t pitched out of the fifth since, and Jeter hit .300 during the most recent home stand, but his overall production has looked a lot like last year.

That leaves eight Yankees having somewhat uneven starts to the season.

Mark Teixeira — Overall Teixeira’s raw production has been good. He leads the team in runs, home runs and RBI. He’s certainly not off to a bad start, but he did go through one seven-game stretch with only three hits and one RBI. That’s half the season to this point.

Joba Chamberlain — Before last night I might have included Chamberlain among the players off to strong starts. Last night’s outing, though, gives him three shaky outings in nine appearances. Like Teixeira, Chamberlain hasn’t been bad by any means — and I have to think the Yankees are encouraged by Chamberlain’s overall performance — but he’s been prone to blowups here and there. Nothing especially bad, just occasionally uneven.

Jorge Posada — Is this the strangest start for any of the Yankees? Posada has just seven hits in 43 at-bats, but five of those hits have been home runs and he’s drawn seven walks. Clearly this is not the best start on record, but it might be the best .163 batting average on record.

A.J. Burnett — Three starts. Three wins. Absolutely no one is going to complain about Burnett at this point, but it’s worth acknowledging two things: 1. Burnett was also terrific last April, and we all know how that worked out; 2. Burnett has a 4.67 ERA that proves he hasn’t been quite perfect.

Curtis Granderson — The good: Granderson is hitting .333/.333/.933 against lefties. The bad: He’s hitting .194/.286/.387 against right-handers. Granderson’s history suggests he’ll turn things around against the right-handers. Can he keep this success going against the lefties?

Nick Swisher – He has yet to hit a home run this season, and he has just two extra-base hits. During the most recent home stand, though, Swisher hit .333 with a .389 on-base percentage. He also has eight RBI, the same number as five-homer Posada. The bat is starting to show some life, and with Swisher the home runs will surely come, but he didn’t do much through the first week and a half.

Boone Logan – Logan is probably guy I was closest to including in the list of struggling Yankees, but  he’s redeemed himself a little bit in his past two outings. He’s had three pretty bad outings and two pretty good outings.

Rafael Soriano – You might remember a couple of unthinkably bad outings from Soriano. He’s pitched seven times this season, and he pitched a scoreless inning in five of them. In the other two, he allowed four hits, four walks and been charged with six runs. That’s as uneven as it gets.

Associated Press photos